Inspiron 1525 "plugged in, not charging"

I've had my laptop since about March and I've basically had no problem until about a week ago. I plug in the AC adaptor and instead of charging the battery is say "plugged in, not charging." Occasionally I can get one of the "fixes" published on other forums to get it to charge up and it does just fine then, going all the way up to 100%, but after I've moved it somewhere else (which trust me, I do a lot) odds are it's going to go back to not charging.

I can only assume that my battery is fine and that it's either something in the power management on Vista or my power cord that's causing the problem.

Things I've done are fiddling with the power settings (flipping between Power Saver and Balanced and pulling the adaptor in and out), removing the battery, and re-installing the Power Management software through the device manager. I'm fresh out of ideas and moving in the near future. Anyone out there know anything or am I best off calling up dell for a fresh power cord?

Could well be the power cord... but below is what I posted in another thread on this forum regarding the same issue other users were having. May work for you. Have you tried flashing with the latest BIOS ?

Many people seem to be having this problem with Vista.

Google 'Plugged in not charging with Vista' and you will find numerous posts describing this same problem.

For a lot of them flashing BIOS with the latest version has solved it.

For some uninstalling and reinstalling the power management software in vista has resolved the issue.

Or it may genuinely be an addapter/battery issue.

Like I said.. google it and try out the fixes and hopefully one of them will work for you.

I actually managed to happen across another Dell laptop user today and have hijacked the power cord. Plugging in via that cord has solved the issue, so I'm guessing that was the problem. Thanks for the input though-- Flashing the BIOS was the only solution I found via google that I wasn't brave enough to try (I've never done it before and don't know how, honestly).

I also have a Inspiron 1525 I purchased in January. Last month the internal battery died so I had to send it back to have the motherboard replaced. When it was sent back to me was when the AC Adapter was no longer being recognized and battery no longer being charged. So they sent me a new Adapter and nothing changed. I really don't want to send it back to them again b/c they scratched my cover the first time. Any help on this?

i tried it.....did not work. i also tried any combination of removing the battery and unplugging the adapter, nothing has worked. also tried shutting down computer and unplugging adapter and removing battery and plugging it back in, dont know wat else to do to make this work....

I've just managed to fix my "plugged but not charging" problem with Inspiron 1525. All you need to do is to replace power board (Part number 48.4W006.021) - looks like this http://www.laptopking.com/dcjack/999742.jpg . Very easy to do ( takes 1,5 -2 h ) if you know how to operate screwdriver and use Dell service manual : http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1526/en/SM/index.htm You can find this board on ebay - I paid for mine 35 pounds

Well, my computer probably isn't under warranty since I purchased in March 2008 and really would hate to pay the $49 charge just to call them. But my computer started doing this as well about a week or so ago. Does anyone think that it might have been from an update or something sent out by Microsoft or Dell themselves that might had a bad file attached to it or something? But I really would like to get this fixed soon if anyone has any ideas to help. Thanks.

I'm not sure this is your problem, but it's a very common problem. There is a delicate wire on the motherboard that connects with the adapter, and allows the adapter to identify itself. From normal wear and tear, this wire gets jiggled loose quite often (this happens on all laptops, but on my dell xps m1530, the adapter hangs QUITE loose in the socket and is probably wreaks havoc on the motherboard).

At that point, if you're skilled, you may be able to solder it back. Or, you're under warranty (I know you're not), Dell will typically replace your motherboard and adapter. If I wasn't under warranty there wouldn't be much I could do, other than discard the computer or pay someone too much to replace the mobo. My advice is if you buy a dell, buy the very, very long warranty. Dell has been GREAT with the warranty. and given the high failure rate of laptops in general over a few years, you'll probably be glad you did.

There is someone on ebay who sells a little $8 part that's supposed to secure your adapter to your laptop and reduce the chances of it ruining your mobo. I can't quite remember what it's called, but maybe someone else knows what I mean.

I really appreciate your feedback and I'll look into that option. But I had a friend of mine that knows computers look at it and he told me to get a Dell OEM PA-10 AC Power Adapter and I ordered it and everything but I was very disappointed when I plugged it in, and of course it didn't work. I probably need to find an adapter or some other solution before anything else. If you have any other options that I can try

I don’t believe this is a Vista issue.I believe this is Dell issue.This is now happening to my second Dell laptop
(one with vista and one with XP); I should have learned my lesson after the
first one and bought anything other than a Dell.

Anyway, it started when both laptops were about 1.5 years
old.In the beginning, the battery would
drain very quickly.Sometimes it said it
was fully charged and minutes later it was dead.I bought new batteries, but the problem
persisted.Then I started getting the
plugged not charging issue.Then I
started getting messages during startup that the computer did not find a
battery (press F1 to continue, F2 to … and F5 to run diagnostics).The diagnostics never found anything
wrong.At this point the first laptop
just died.There was nothing, you
plugged it in and press the power button and nothing happen.I bought a new adapter and it did not
help.The newer laptop is still going
when plugged in, but I expect it to die any day now.I guess if I want a computer that last longer
than 1.5 years I should buy a different brand.

I had the same issue, diagnosed the problem to be with the jack after testing battery to be ok. The problem was the power supply was not recognized by the BIOS so was allowing the charger to power the laptop but not charge the battery. The center pin is the problem not making the correct contact.

I solved this by disassembling the laptop, de-soldering the jack and replacing the jack for a new one. After the rebuild the charger is now recognized. A cheap fix but does require some skill.

If de-soldering is not for you the DC jack is on a seperate circuit board, this can be purchased seperate from ebay, less complicated but a little bit more expensive.